The year was 2013 and summer vacationers were watching the price of gas at the pump. The Boeing Dreamliner was off to a shaky start. Mass shootings occurred with frightening frequencies, and the Boston Marathon was interrupted by bombs made out of pressure cookers. Record high temperatures were recorded across the globe, as global warming, due to carbon emissions was running rampant. The Museum of Modern Life and Culture is running an exhibit entitled, 2013, a Retrospective. The exhibit opens on Aug. 1 and will be there through October 31. Come see, and even drive a gasoline-powered 2013 Ford Fusion. See the gun exhibit from a time when guns were considered “legal” and a “right to bear arms” was a rallying cry. Experience videos from the scene of the Aurora theater shooting, and the shootings at Newton, CT. ‘Feel’ a day in Las Vegas when the temperature rose to 46 degrees C (115 degrees Fahrenheit) and it was said you could cook eggs on the sidewalk. Check out the display of tablet computers, called “iPads” — carry-along devices which were all the rage before wearable microchips of today.

It is said that those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it. No one in her right mind would want to repeat 2013! We have harnessed the weather, nearly eliminated crime, and we can get around in our electric and levomagnetic vehicles so much quicker and more efficiently than in those gas-guzzlers of the past. But to appreciate where we are, we need to see where we have been. Don’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime exhibit: 2013, a Retrospective now through October 31 at the Museum of Modern Life and Culture.